Instability in 1.8.6.1457?

[mikey2000]

I've been getting more crashes than usual since I recently installed all the latest updates (Windows 10 64bit, 32GB ram, i7).

Blink just gave me an api error (CreateImageWindow etc) see attached file.   I've also had weird interface issues where I couldn't rename an image window (I wanted to call it Ha_NoStars but it stubbornly remained as Image17 until I restarted PI.   

I've had other errors where a dropdown list (in LocalNormalisation) sort of hung and stayed on the screen, even after I'd closed the LocalNormalization.

On a few occasions, PI just bombs out and disappears without warning or error message.

I've not seen this behaviour before I upgraded to the latest version.   

I'd like to report further - where does PI store the process log or any other messages?


I just had a thought - maybe I could clear out the temp files in case something is lingering in there.  Is that likely to make any difference?

[Juan Conejero]

None of these problems can be reproduced on any of our working and testing machines, on any supported platform. The current version 1.8.6.1457 has passed strong stress tests on Linux, macOS and Windows 10. It does not show any of the behaviors you are describing under normal working conditions. There should be no crash on any supported operating system.

Some suggestions to diagnose and possibly fix these machine-specific issues:

- Check your graphics drivers. Make sure you have the latest version available installed. If you update drivers, please reboot your computer before running PixInsight.

- Uninstall or disable (much better if you completely uninstall) any vendor-provided utility applications (also known as bloatware). In particular, file management and backup utilities, as well as Windows Explorer extensions, tend to be very problematic. Some utilities are built with Qt libraries in a wrong way, which causes conflicts with PixInsight and other Qt-based applications.

- Some anti-virus applications can also be problematic, especially when they are configured to 'protect' against 'threats' aggressively in real time.

- Viruses, Trojans and other malwares could also generate weird issues, although this is unlikely since nowadays malwares tend to pass as unnoticed as possible.

- Perform a complete reset of application settings. On Windows, there should be a 'Reset Settings' Start Menu entry. Alternately, you can run PixInsight with the Ctrl key pressed, then answer yes to the confirmation dialog.

- Consider a clean reinstall of Windows 10 without any third-party utilities and the latest versions available of all device drivers correctly installed and configured.

[mikey2000]

Thanks for the quick reply.    I did actually do a complete fresh windows installation (not from the vendors 'factory reset' but from a true blank Windows install, as I hate the bloatware too).   I'm only using the built in Windows Defender and downloaded all the latest drivers to be able to get the laptop to work.  This was mid-December.  I'll check for any updates.

In the meantime, I'll keep trying.   

I did actually replace both RAM chips in my computer three weeks ago as I suspected they were causing me some BSOD crashes.  The computer hasn't had a BSOD since the ram swap.

Does the process log get written to a file anywhere?    One other example was using the NBRGBCombination script - it failed with some red writing in the process log but was quite happy after a PI restart.   

I'm sure it would be helpful to take a look at the process log the next time I get a weird error...

[Juan Conejero]

You can enable generation of a console log file from the Process Console. Enter the following command:

   log --file=<path-to-log-file>

where <path-to-log-file> is the full path to the file you want to use. Please use UNIX style directory separators, since the backslash will be interpreted in a special way. For example:

   log --file=C:/Users/johndoe/log.txt

To stop generation of console logs, use the following:

   log --close

For detailed information on the log command:

   log --help

A console log file will be an exact copy of everything written to the Process Console as plain text, including a timestamp for each text line. Note that console log files use UNIX line endings (LF), not Windows line endings (CR+LF), so the Windows Notepad application cannot show them. Use a good code editor, for example Script Editor in PixInsight, to inspect one of these files.

A log file won't tell you what is causing these problems in your machine, but at least we can know if they tend to happen following some pattern or sequence of processes.

[mikey2000]

Thanks for the 'how to enable log file' instructions.

I still get intermittent problems (despite making sure all my drivers are up to date etc).   If you are interested, here is a log file that ends in a *big* crash.  The interface hung after completing a DrizzleIntegration, so I couldn't even save my stuff.   I had just let the computer DrizzleIntegrate several big sets of data - it took ages for each one (just due to the sheer amount of data...)  So PI had been running more or less all day, doing some very heavy number crunching.

I suppose I'll have to start again :-)  And remember to save the project more frequently (rookie mistake, not saving, only got myself to blame  8) )

Here's a link to the logfile
https://1drv.ms/t/s!AvgOChdTHut6hpZUFD60gN83jGRzkw

It shows the final error chain.  Also, there are a few episodes where PI is restarted after crashing without traces (including one BSOD)

I'm sure you won't be able to reproduce such random errors, but if the particular error code means anything, perhaps it could direct me to which part of my computer I should be looking at.

Cheers
Mike